Episode Summary

Game 1: Harry Cintron - "Runs Elevator In Statue Of Liberty" (salaried; he performs his work on Bedloe's Island, where the Statue of Liberty is located; he is so nervous, he is barely able to smile; from New York) Game 2: Mrs. Lillian Wohl - "Teaches Course For Expectant Parents" (salaried; she works for the Red Cross and donated her winnings to them; from New York) Game 3: Spike Jones (12/14/1911 - 5/1/1965) (as Mystery Guest) Born "Lindley Armstrong Jones" Game 4: Mrs. Isabel Serrano - "Weight Guesser" (salaried; for perhaps the first time ever, John dispensed with the free guess due to a shortage of time; from Margate, NJ) . .moreless

Mystery Guest

Guest Star

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)

QUOTES (1)

Bennett: (referencing a famous gambler from the novel and musical "Show Boat") Well, on the left, we have not only an unexcelled news moderator and panel manipulator, but the slickest card flipper since Gaylord Ravenal, Mr. John Sebastian Daly.

NOTES (4)

YOU KNOW ABOUT THE RULES, LET'S PLAY: John had previously mentioned in a recent episode that people had been writing him about his practice of constantly explaining the rules. At this point, John seems to have fallen into the practice of making only the briefest mention of the rules at the start of each game, stopping only to ask contestants if they're familiar with them and mentioning that cards are flipped for each "no" answer. It will still be quite a long time, however, before John completely abandons the practice of making reference to the rules, except at times when he has reason to believe the contestant might not be entirely familiar with them, such as with a foreign visitor. - agent_0042 (2008)

FLIP REPORT: It was a warm night and the heat perhaps spurred John into a mood for flipping cards. He flipped the remaining cards for the second contestant at three down. Bennett had correctly guessed the line, but the contestant mentioned that she was donating her winnings to the Red Cross, so John went ahead and flipped over all the remaining cards. In the fourth game, John flipped them all for the final contestant at four down. It was perhaps oddly appropriate that the panel was not given a free guess at this contestant's line, given that she made educated guesses at people's weights for a living. - agent_0042 (2008)

(1) "WML?" ON INDEPENDENCE DAY - #1 OF 2: Tonight's show was one of only two episodes of "WML?" to have fallen exactly on the Fourth of July. The other was EPISODE #771 of July 4, 1965. In 1959, July 4 fell on a Saturday, and in 1960 it fell on a Monday.(2) "WML?" SPONSOR WATCH: This evening's edition was sponsored by Stopette and Poof!(3) This was another early example of Arlene introducing Bennett as the "Squire of Mount Kisco," as she did from time to time over the course of the show's run. As for the Random House president, he referred to John as a "news moderator and panel manipulator." He then went on to make a reference to John's flipping skills in relation to Gaylord Ravenal. Ravenal was a fictional character in the novel Show Boat, written by Edna Ferber and adapted as a stage musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II (of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame.)(4) SPIKE JONES: The madcap bandleader makes his only appearance on "WML?" this evening, for which his nameplate on the panel moderator's desk is set, as usual, in Title Gothic Condensed No. 11. Around this time, his long association with RCA Victor -- which dated back to 1942 when his City Slickers first burst onto the scene with "Der Fuehrer's Face" -- had come to an end, and his first attempt at a television series, "The Spike Jones Show," had ended after running on NBC (aka "another network") from January to May of 1954. He made other attempts at weekly series for television, mostly as summer replacements, all on CBS, in 1957, 1960 and 1961. In 1956, two years after his appearance tonight, Mr. Jones released an album with perhaps his best-known title, "Dinner Music for People Who Aren't Very Hungry" (Verve MG V-4005); it was his first true long-playing high-fidelity release, and the last to feature the City Slickers. In his final years, Spike recorded for Warner Brothers (two albums in 1959), and then for Liberty where, in the eyes of longtime fans, the quality of each successive album was weaker than its predecessor, as he was becoming increasingly ravaged with the emphysema that claimed his life in 1965. One of his albums for Liberty was titled "Omnibust: 60 Years of Music America Hates Best" (LRP-3140/LST-7140, 1960). It was a play on both the title of the 1950's television series "Omnibus," as well as a series of albums put out by RCA Victor in 1959-1960 under the banner "60 Years of Music America Loves Best," which was a reference to the then-upcoming anniversary of the original founding of the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901.(5) "WML?" END CREDITS AND CREDITS CRUNCH WATCH: The end credits were truncated tonight, cutting off after the "In Association with the CBS Television Network" slide card. This mattered not the least to GSN, which glibly (but without a hint of guilt) continued its business-as-usual "crunching" of the screen during that sequence on its June 12, 2008 airing of this episode.(6) Following the June 12, 2008 airing of tonight's show, GSN aired the March 21, 1966 edition of "I've Got a Secret," with host Steve Allen and the panel of Betsy Palmer, Bill Cullen, Bess Myerson and Henry Morgan. The celebrity guest was Bob Holiday who, not long after this "IGAS" episode, played the role of "Clark Kent/Superman" in the Broadway musical "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman®," which ran for 129 performances at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre) from March 29, 1966 to July 16, 1966. It should be noted that a snippet of the opening "Overture" to this musical (written by Charles Strouse who later wrote the score for the musical "Annie") was later used by Washington, D.C. station WTOP-TV (Channel 9, later WDVM and now WUSA) as the theme music for its local newscast "Eyewitness News" from 1971 until 1982. - W-B (2008)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY, 1954!!! This was a fairly decent night for the panel. Unfortunately, they were totally stumped in the first game by the Statue of Liberty's very nervous looking elevator operator. However, they did have more success with the second contestant, a woman who taught classes for expectant parents for the Red Cross. Even though she only won $15, John flipped over the rest of cards after it was announced that she was donating her winnings to the Red Cross, so that they could get clothes for less fortunate parents. Bennett also guessed that the mystery guest was Spike Jones. Jones looked as if he was going to go the Walter Winchell route, but he decided to vocalize his responses with "uh-huh" and "uh-uh." Unfortunately, the panel ran out of time as they were questioning the weight guesser, and she won the full prize by default. - Sargebri (2005)

SPIKE JONES: In spite of his rather stern appearance, Spike Jones was the fun-loving leader of one of the zaniest and goofiest conglomerations of musicians that ever tried to pass itself off as a band - Spike Jones and his City Slickers. In addition to the usual complement of brass and percussion instruments, all played by highly skilled musicians, Spike Jones used kazoos, cow bells, wash boards, fog horns, and even some Olympic-style gargling! He engaged operetta lyricists and standard balladeers to create send-offs of popular tunes of the day, as well as many original tunes. His greatest popularity was in the 1940s, and carried well into the 1950s. For some reason, the slide whistle which was a particular trademark of his, failed to whistle, both when he attempted to use it to give his first "yes" answer, and again at the end of his appearance. At the end of the show, John Daly did manage to coax a throaty croak from the kazoo. - Lee McIntyre (2005)

Tidbits: Arlene will soon be starting her new 1-hour television series, "Soldier Parade." This is the program that was formerly called "Talent Patrol." It has been given a new name and a new host. It was formerly hosted/emceed by Steve Allen. Other hosts included Bud Collyer in 1953 and Richard Hayes in 1955. - Suzanne (2005)

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